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AN ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



Pioneer and Historical Society 



PICKAWAY COUNTY, 



H V 



ALFRED WILLIAMS. 



Published by request of the Society 



CIRCLEVILLE, OHIO : 

PRINTED l:Y van CLEAF * DBE8BACH, BOOK k .lou PRINTERS. 



1873 



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AN ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



Pioneer and Historical Society 



O P 



PICKAWAY COUNTY, 



ALFRED WILLIAMS. 



Pub Hiked by request of the Society* ' 



CIRCLEVILLE, OHIO: 

PRINTED '■'•' VAS ' CWAI * DBE8BACB, BOOK i jmi JHIN7 Cl:-:. 



1878. 



* 




THE LIBRARY 
OF CONGRESS 

WASHINGTON 



ADDRESS. 



± ^ PROPOSE to speak of the character of the 
d work which this Association has before it as 
u|lL a Historical Society. The old ideas of the 
* dignity of history have recently given place to 
more enlightened and practical views. The state 
of society, even as to the minor details of the every 
day life of all classes of people a^e considered no 
less interesting than the ambitious schemes of 
kings, or the cunning intrigues of diplomatists. 
Lord Macaulay in his incomparable essay on history 
first developed the principles of this new school of 
historical writing, of which he afterwards furnished 
so successful and brilliant an example in his admi- 
rable history of England. He demonstrated that 
history could be truthfully and impartially written 
so as to make the narrative no less attractive and 
absorbing than the highest order of fiction, or poetry. 
Thus the stately old folios over which our fathers 
yawned, have given place to pleasing volumes filled 
with vivid pictures of the daily life of the people 
in the ages gone by, whereby we are enabled to 



— 4 — 

realize that they were men like ourselves, of like 
virtues and faults, hopes and fears. The true 
philosophy of history must be sought in the hearts 
and lives of the people, not in the tomes of artifi- 
cial diplomatic correspondence, or in books winch 
detail the fortunes of dynasties. The permanency 
of free institutions rests upon the principle that 
there is in human society a perpetually progressive 
tendency, and that all the political, social and 
moral revolutions of the world inevitably promote 
the elevation of humanity. This development is 
of course best traced in the homely but important 
facts and events of common life which is the duty 
of associations like this to collect and record. 

This association is called the Pioneer and His- 
torical Society. It seems therefore to have a two- 
fold object : 

1st. The collection of materials for the historian. 

2nd. The promotion of social intercourse among 
the pioneers of the county. 

The historical work of the Society is important 
and for the reason that there is perhaps no other 
county in the State which possesses more interest- 
ing materials for the historian. The Scioto Valley 
was evidently always a favorite dwelling place for 
the Indians, as well as for that more ancient, mys- 
terious people who preceded them. In this con- 
nection it would perhaps be proper for us to express 
our regret, if not our indignation, at the action of 
the founders of Circleville, by which the most in- 
teresting ancient works upon this continent were 
obliterated. If the ground occupied by those works 



— 5 — 

had been set apart for a park, and the town laid out 
at a suitable distance therefrom, they might have 
been preserved and would have rendered this 
locality one of unusual interest to the tourists and 
antiquarians of all the world. Since, however, 
they have been destroyed it might be well for this 
Society to cause a proper topographical survey to 
be made in order that the outlines of those works 
may be marked by such monuments, as will enable 
future generations to know where the famous circle 
and square once stood. 

It would probably not be expedient for this Society 
to enter into inquiries as to who the mound build- 
ers were, whence they came, and in what age they 
occupied these fertile plains. The subject is dark, 
unknown, and mysterious and will probably always 
so remain. 

The history of the Indians who occupied this 
territory immediately before it was settled by our 
pioneer ancestors, will, I suppose, constitute a 
proper subject for the investigations of this Society. 
The subject while not wanting in poetical interest, 
suggests also deep questions of philosophy. The 
Indian uncorrupted and undebased by the vices of 
civilization, contrasted with the ancient Greek, is 
in many respects similar to him, the noblest type 
of mankind yet produced. Take for example the 
Shawanoese account of the origin of the Piqua 
Tribe, from whom our county derives its name. 
The tradition as related to Col. Johnson was, that 
once upon a time the whole Shawanoese Tribe were 
assembled at a solemn religious feast. They were 



_ 6 — 

all seated around a large lire which having nearlv 
burnt down, a great puffing and blowing was sud- 
denly observed among the embers, when behold'/ a 
man of majestic form and god-like mien issued 
forth from the ashes. Hence the namePiqua; a 
man made of ashes. This was the first man of the 
Piqua Tribe. This Indian tradition certainly 
equals in interest and dignity any of those related 
of the gods and heroes of ancient Greece, and 
indicates that the race possessed a poetic fancy, 
joined to such religious conceptions as would in 
course of time have produced a sublime and beau- 
tiful mythology. Their minds were full of the 
images of poetry, and had they possessed a written 
language, they could have given to the world the 
elements of a noble literature. Such a language 
they would no doubt have ultimately possessed had 
not their development been cut short by the dis- 
covery of America, and the incursion of Europeans 
which followed. 

The authentic modern history of our county may 
be said to begin with the celebrated expedition of 
Lord Dunmore in the year 1774, against the Indians 
on the Scioto. Lord Dunmore, the last royal gov- 
ernor of the commonwealth of Virginia, has been 
uniformly, so far as I know, spoken of by American 
writers as a wicked and corrupt man. It seems 
probable that great injustice has been done to his 
character as a salesman and a citizen. The colo- 
nists under the influence of the excitement growing 
out of the revolutionary movements of that period, 
charged him with having formed a secret alliance 



with the Indians to assist Groat Britain in the im- 
pending war. The charge was repeated by Charles 
Whittlesey in his address before the historical and 
philosophical society of Ohio at Columbus, in 1840, 
and has ever since been received as an established 
historical fact. I have, through the kindness of 
Gen. Schenck, the American minister at London, 
been furnished with full copies of the dispatches of 
Lord Dunmore to the English government, con- 
taining a detailed account of the origin, progress, 
and execution of the campaign against the Scioto 
Indians. These private, confidential dispatches 
contain no intimation of any design, or desire even 
upon the part of Lord Dunmore to form any alliance 
with the Indians against the colonists. On the con- 
trary, his confidential report to his government es- 
tablishes the fact that he acted in the utmost good 
faith, and honestly labored for the promotion of the 
prosperity of the colony of which he was governor. 

Mr. Bancroft, in his history of the United States, 
has probably done very great injustice to the char- 
acter of Lord Dunmore. I use the word probably 
for the reason that it would be very improper to 
make a positive charge until Mr. Bancroft has had 
an .opportunity of vindicating the correctness of his 
narrative. 

In Vol. VII, page 161, Mr. Bancroft says : 

" No royal governor showed more rapacity in the use of 
"official power than Lord Dunmore. Pie had reluctantly left 
" New York, where during his short career he had acquired fifty 
" thousand acres of land, and himself acting as chancellor, was 
" preparing to decide in his own court, in his own favor, a large 
"and unfounded claim which he had preferred against the 



" lieutenant governor. Upon entering upon the government of 
" Virginia, his passion for land and fees, outweighing the pro- 
"clamation of the King and reiterated and most positive in- 
structions from the Secretary of State, he advocated the claims 
''of the colony to the West, and was himself a partner in two 
"immense purchases of land from the Indians in Southern 
" Illinois. In 1773, his agents, the Bullets, made surveys at the 
"falls of the Ohio, and a part of Louisville, and of the towns 
"opposite Cincinnati, are now held under his warrant. The 
"area of the Ancient Dominion expanded with his cupidity." 

Mr. Bancroft cites no authority whatever for the 
very grave charges which he makes against the 
character of Lord Dunmore. It appears, however, 
by Dunmore's correspondence, that charges of the 
character mentioned were made against him by 
John Penn, Governor of the province of Pennsyl- 
vania. It is moreover a well known fact that a 
bitter controversy took place between Penn and 
Dunmore as to the boundaries of their respective 
provinces. In this controversy Dunmore was but 
the mouthpiece of the people of Virginia. Of course 
the dispute was referred to the home government in 
England for settlement, each party endeavoring, 
as usual in such cases, to make the best showing 
possible. It appears that Governor Penn, in order 
to sustain his cause, made an attack upon the per- 
sonal character of the Governor of Virginia, making 
substantially the charges contained in Bancroft. 
We may therefore conjecture that Bancroft must 
have founded his charges upon the statements of 
Governor Penn, which statements must have been 
made, as we shall see, under the influence of passion 
and prejudice. 

Lord Dartmouth, the colonial Secretary, having 



— 9 — 

called the attention of Dun more to the charge that 
he had illegally issued patents to himself for lands, 
he makes the following emphatic and pointed 
denial : 

" I have not in any manner, whatever, made a grant of land 
" to myself, to any person of my family, or even to any friend 
" or connection ; or made a grant to any other person for my 
" or their benefit, or been concerned in any scheme for obtaining 
" land any how since I came to this government. " — Page 9 of 
Lord Dunmore 1 s dispatch of Dec. 24, 1774. 

To sustain his denial he appends to his dispatch 
a detailed official report of all the patents issued 
by him, which official record sustains his statement. 
The following additional facts which I have ascer- 
tained through our follow citizen, Col. Anderson, 
seem to confirm beyond dispute the statement of 
Dunmore. The original patentees of the land upon 
which Covington is built were John Connelly and 
James Welsh; the patentee of Newport was James 
Taylor, of Caroline county, Va. I have not been 
able to find any evidence to connect Dunmore in 
any manner with the ownership of those lands. 
On the contrary reliable information seemed to 
indicate that Bancroft was utterly mistaken. This 
may be another instance in which a malicious 
slander, devised for the gratification of personal 
spite has passed as truth into the solemn records 
of history to injury of a pure and upright man. 
In this connection it may be proper to remark that, 
if we may judge from the pure idiomatic English 
of his State papers, he was a man of scholarly culture 
as well as an enlightened and liberal statesman. 



— 10 — 

Another interesting subject connected with the 
history of our county is Logan's speech and the 
questions which have arisen in regard to its 
authenticity. The testimony is so conflicting as to 
render the satisfactory solution of the question a mat- 
ter of great difficulty, especially as it involves the 
character for truthfulness of so eminent a statesman 
as Thomas Jefferson. As a literary and historical 
problem it possesses no less interest and dignity 
than the controversies which in times past have 
agitated the learned world in regard to the authen- 
ticity of the epistles of Phalaris, the poems of 
Ossian, or the authorship of the letters of Junius. 

Such are some of the matters of general, and 
indeed we may say of national interest which may 
properly occupy the attention of the members 
of this society. Our chief work, however, will 
be to collect materials for a history of the settle- 
ment of the county. We must determine when 
and where the first settlements were made, the 
names of the first settlers, whence they came, and 
what traits of character they were noted for. We 
must also inquire who were the first professional 
men of the county, the first lawyers, physicians,- 
teachers and ministers, and record anecdotes illust- 
rating any peculiarities ihej may have possessed. 
We must inquire when and where the first churches 
and school houses were built ; where the early 
courts were held ; who the early county officers 
w r ere ; who were members of the Legislature, Con- 
gressmen, or filled other places of public trust. 
We must inquire who the early merchants were ; 



— 11 — 

who were the leading mechanics and pioneer man- 
ufacturers ; when the iirst banks were established ; 
when and where the first mills were built ; the first 
roads were made; what bridges were first built, and 
so all through the list of public improvements. 

Nor must we neglect social statistics, and facts 
illustrating the daily life of the pioneers. Although 
human nature in its general characteristics remains 
forever the same, yet the dress, food, dwellings, 
furniture, equipage, arms, customs of society, amuse- 
ments, festivities, language, laws, opinions, and 
even creeds and the solemn ceremonies of religion 
are perpetually changing. Hence it is that the 
past always possesses for mankind such a lively 
interest. Hence the pleasure with which we view 
relics of the past, whether those relics be the ruins 
of classical antiquity on the rude domestic imple- 
ments, or ornaments of our pioneer ancestors. It 
is the faculty of well describing the dress, habits 
and customs of by-gone ages, that gives a great 
novelist his power, a power that increases just in 
proportion as the writer vividly and faithfully 
represents the manners and the sentiments of 
the men and women of the past. The picture 
must be true to nature, or the finest word painting 
will not prevent a story with a plot ever so well 
devised from being a failure. We all long for 
glimpses of the daily life of the old times. How 
intense has been the interest with which mankind 
have watched the disinterment of Herculaneum 
and Pompeii, because those cities were so suddenly 
overwhelmed that the domestic life of the inhabit- 



— 12 — 

ants was suddenly suspended, and petrified for our 
study. How many of the pages of stately Livy 
which describe the march of armies and the 
triumphs of the Senate and the Roman people 
would we not give for a description of the daily, 
social and domestic life of the Romans. 

We, the grandsons of the pioneers, already regard 
with romantic interest, the scenes which they wit- 
nessed and were a part of. What would we not 
inve to have thrown on a canvass before us to-day 
a photograph of the interior of a pioneer cabin, 
with its capacious fire place, the mellow light shed 
through the greased paper window, the bright 
pewter plates arrayed upon the clapboard shelves, 
the gun on hooks over the door, the spinning wheel, 
the three legged stool, the family partaking of- the 
humble repast of johnny cake or mush and milk. 
How we would like to see the men of those days, 
the noble form of the hunter returning home 
laden with game, or of the stalwart axman under 
whose steady blows the sturdy oak has just fallen. 
Surely there is in pioneer life not less for the study 
of the artist than for the poet, the novelist, or the 
historian. 

Turning to the social life of the pioneers we find 
that while it had hardships and dangers which only 
the determined and the brave could have endured, 
it had also its bright side in the warm and sincere 
hospitality and neighborly kindness which it devel- 
oped. It was certainly reserved for American 
pioneer life to bring out to the fullest extent the 
most unselfish feelings of the human heart. While 

BD-31 >f 



— 13 — 

we admire the religious enthusiasm of the Crusader 
who died cheerfully fighting to recover the Saviour's 
tomb, or the bravery of the Knight errant who in 
tournament or battle never turned back to a foe, 
we cannot the less esteem the American pioneer 
whose daily life was an illustration of the divine 
parable of the good Samaritan. 

Not the least important object of this society is 
to promote social intercourse among the old citizens 
of the county, and to bring them together at stated 
periods and talk over the merry old times that are 
gone, for 

" Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 

"And never brought to mind ? 
"Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 

" And days o' lang syne?" 

The revered and venerable pioneers as they 
assemble on these joyous occasions will sadly miss 
many of the friends and companions of their early 
years who now sleep in honored graves. For some, 
too, there may be recollections of sickness and 
sorrow in the remote cabin, of father or mother, 
stricken down by death, making the wilderness 
home solitary and desolate indeed. For such 

" Memory may be now but the tomb 
" Of joys long past." 

Fortunately, however, the severest trials and 
misfortunes of life are soon softened and mellowed 
by time. Whatever the sorrows of the past may 
have been, the surviving pioneers may well rejoice 



— 14 — 

in the present, and look hopefully to the future. 
As they to-day behold the public improvements, 
the wealth, the intellectual culture and refinement 
which have given to this county so high a rank 
among those of the State, they may well conclude 
that their labors have not been in vain. 



























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